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Article ID: CBB933621108

The Anti-teleologism of Asclepiades and Epicurus in Galen’s de usu partium (2019)

Technai, An International Journal for Ancient Science and Technology
Volume: 10
Pages: 91-117
Publication date: 2019
Language: English

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Epicurianism Medicine Philosophy Physicians; doctors Ancient Asclepiades of Bithynia Lucretius Galen

One of the main reasons for Galen’s criticism of Asclepiades is the anti-teleologism that his medical and philosophical system seems to share with Epicureanism. In the "De Usu Partium," Galen attributes to both Asclepiades and Epicurus the same evolutionary view of human body, focusing on their rejection of the final cause and, therefore, of the idea that the usefulness of the parts is the outcome of a provident design. Such a mechanistic explanation does not recognize any consequential link between the appropriateness of living beings’ bodily parts and the functions that they perform. According to Galen, indeed, Asclepiades agrees with Epicurus in giving priority to the generation of the parts over their usefulness, which is not predetermined by a demiurge but gained through use and experience. I will especially examine the case of hand tendons, which is described by Galen as emblematic of Asclepiades and Epicurus’ anti-teleologism within biology. As a result of such analysis, I will argue that in the "De Usu" Galen attributes to his rivals two kinds of causal sequence, which correspond to the two stages of adaptation described by Lucretius in book v of the "De Rerum Natura." In conclusion, I will argue that the comparison with Lucretius proves the Epicurean background of Asclepiades’ anti-teleologism and the reliability of Galen’s account.

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